Harvey Korman

The Man Who Held Back Laughter

Harvey Korman didn't have the looks of a leading man, but he handled comic timing like a metronome. In the halls of CBS, people knew that if a comedy sketch wasn't quite working, all they had to do was give him a line. He spent years jumping from show to show until, in 1967, his life changed when he joined the cast of The Carol Burnett Show.

There, he learned that ridicule was a major art form.

His on-screen rapport with Tim Conway was a willing torture that audiences adored. Conway would often go off script to try to make Korman break character mid-take, and he almost always succeeded. That vulnerability in front of the camera earned him four Emmy Awards during the ten seasons he spent on the show.

Behind that professional clown façade, however, was a meticulous actor trained at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago. Before fame, he went hungry and took precarious jobs while waiting for a break on Broadway. So when money and recognition arrived in the sixties, he knew he couldn't afford to fail.

Mel Brooks's Blessing

The movies called on him late, but with unusual force. In 1974, he played the sinister Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles and set a new standard for comedy villains. Mel Brooks used him to parody authority and power through pure absurdity, because Korman knew how to stay serious while doing ridiculous things.

Audiences always waited for his next funny face.

In 1977 he reunited with Brooks for High Anxiety, where he parodied the tropes of Alfred Hitchcock movies. Korman wasn't chasing critical acclaim or aiming to be a deep method actor. He just wanted the joke machinery to run with the precision of a Swiss watch.

But Korman preferred television to film because the small screen offered an immediacy that celluloid did not. In 1980, he tried to get his own show with The Harvey Korman Show, but the audience didn't respond as hoped. That failure forced him to retreat back into supporting roles and guest spots.

Voice Work and Farewell in California

During the eighties and nineties he turned to voice work and brief appearances in hit series. He lent his voice to Great Gazoo in The Flintstones, and his voice became as recognizable as his face. Although he never again landed a leading role of great stature, he stayed active in the industry until the end of his life.

The big screen was never his top priority.

In 2000, he had his last credited movie appearance in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. From then on, his public appearances dropped sharply due to his poor health. He spent his final years at his California home, away from the spotlight and weekly tapings.

He died on May 29, 2008 at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was 81 years old, and his funeral was held privately at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica. He left behind hundreds of hours of television recorded on videotape, which are still studied in comedy schools.